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Civil defence officer salary in Malaysia

Gaji Pegawai Pertahanan Awam

What the federal public service pays new civil defence officers at entry under the 2026 pay scale, with the allowances set by the JPA circular.

MalaysiaSSPA pay scale · Budget 2026DOSM Salaries & WagesRM per monthUpdated 29 Oct 2026
Government pay scaleBasic pay range / month
Entry, degreeCivil defence officer, KP9RM2,250–11,110PromotionGrade 10RM3,840–12,150SeniorGrade 12RM5,530–13,540SeniorGrade 14RM6,560–15,360
Minimum to maximum basicScale RM0 to RM16kSSPA pay scale, Budget 2026
Starting basicRM2,250RM27,000 a yearKP9, bachelor's degreeSee the pay breakdown →With allowancesRM3,150RM37,800 a yearBasic plus RM900 fixed allowances, Kuala LumpurSee the pay breakdown →Top of grade 9RM11,110RM133,320 a yearMaximum basic at KP9See the pay scale →
At a glance

Civil defence officer salary in Malaysia

What the job is: This unit group covers protective services workers not classified elsewhere in Minor Group 541: Protective Services Workers. ILO ISCO-08, 5419 Protective Services Workers Not Elsewhere Classified

  • Civil defence officer (Pegawai Pertahanan Awam, KP9): RM2,250 basic a month (bachelor's degree), RM2,470 with an honours degree.
  • With fixed allowances in Kuala Lumpur: RM3,150 a month at KP9.
  • Pay scale: grade 9 runs from RM2,250 to RM11,110, rising RM225 a year.

What a new civil defence officer earns

A civil defence officer at KP9 starts on RM2,250 basic, plus RM900 in fixed allowances in Kuala Lumpur: RM3,150 a month. An honours degree starts at RM2,470.

Grade KP9, from the SPA service scheme and the JPA allowance circular. The starting point depends on the qualification.

Qualification or pay itemGrade KP9RM a month
Bachelor's degreeStarting basic2,250
Former police or military officer of at least Police Inspector or Second Lieutenant rank or equivalent, confirmed in the post and with a good service recordStarting basic2,250
Bachelor's degree with honoursStarting basic2,470
Fixed allowances, Kawasan AHousing (ITP) RM300, public service (ITKA) RM300, cost of living (BISH) RM300900
Total fixed pay at the start, bachelor's degreeBasic plus fixed allowances, Kawasan A3,150

Sources: SPA scheme page for grade KP9; JPA Pekeliling Perkhidmatan 1/2024, Lampiran E. BISH is lower outside Kawasan A. Totals computed by Foundific.

What it means
  • A year at the start: RM3,150 × 12 = RM37,800.
  • Physical requirements: at least 1.57 m tall and 48 kg for men, 1.53 m and 46 kg for women, a BMI of 19 to 26, a chest of at least 79 cm (84 cm expanded) for men, V6/9 eyesight without glasses, and normal colour vision and hearing.
  • Allowances counted here are the fixed ones in the JPA circular. Any allowance tied to a particular post is not included.
  • Route to civil defence officer (KP9): serving assistant civil defence officers may be considered for appointment at KP9 when a post is vacant and they meet the scheme conditions.

How to become a civil defence officer

Civil defence officers enter at KP9, depending on the qualification.

Entry levelQualificationStarting basic, RMWith allowances, RM
Civil defence officer (Pegawai Pertahanan Awam, KP9)Bachelor's degree2,2503,150
Civil defence officer (Pegawai Pertahanan Awam, KP9)Former police or military officer of at least Police Inspector or Second Lieutenant rank or equivalent, confirmed in the post and with a good service record2,2503,150
Civil defence officer (Pegawai Pertahanan Awam, KP9)Bachelor's degree with honours2,4703,370

Source: SPA scheme pages. Allowances from the JPA circular, Kawasan A: KP9 RM900. Totals computed by Foundific.

What it means
  • Bahasa Melayu: the degree routes need a credit in Bahasa Melayu at SPM or SVM. The route for former police or military officers does not list this condition.

How pay grows on the government scale

Grade 9 pay rises RM225 a year, from RM2,250 up to RM11,110. Promotion to a higher grade moves an officer onto a higher range.

Minimum and maximum monthly basic salary for each SSPA grade, 2026.

GradeWhoMinimumMaximumYearly increment
9Civil defence officer, entry with a degree2,25011,110225
10Promotion grade3,84012,150250
12Promotion grade5,53013,540270
14Promotion grade6,56015,360320

Source: Ministry of Finance, Budget 2026 establishment list, Lampiran A: SSPA salary codes and minimum-maximum salaries (page A-1). Basic salary only.

What it means

Pay after 5, 10 and 20 years

Starting at RM2,250 at grade 9, with the RM225 yearly increment and no promotion. The grade maximum, RM11,110, is reached after about 39 years.

Years in gradeBasic, RM a monthWith fixed allowances, RM a monthFixed pay, RM a year
At the start2,2503,15037,800
After 5 years3,3754,27551,300
After 10 years4,5005,40064,800
After 20 years6,7507,65091,800

Foundific calculation from the Budget 2026 SSPA scale, with fixed allowances at the Kawasan A rate, which do not rise with increments. Promotion, special payments and allowance changes are not included.

Compared with Malaysian pay overall

A new civil defence officer's fixed pay, RM3,150, is above the RM2,940 median for Malaysian citizens. The public administration and defence median, RM4,483, covers workers of all grades and years.

FigureSourceRM a month
New civil defence officer, KP9, basic plus fixed allowances, Kuala LumpurSPA and JPA, 20263,150
Median salary, public administration and defenceDOSM, 20244,483
Median salary, all Malaysian citizensDOSM, 20252,940
Median salary, employed degree holders of all agesDOSM, 20245,724
  • Industry median covers all employees in the industry.
  • DOSM figures cover all paid employees and all ages. The government figure is one fixed pay point. Use them to show scale only.
  • Compare your own pay with this scale, the DOSM figures and court awards in the Malaysia salary comparison.

Civil defence officers outside government

The data used here does not cover civil defence officer pay outside government.

  • DOSM publishes salaries by state, industry, occupation group and skill level, but not by job title.
  • Private surveys and job ads use different measures and samples, so their figures are not mixed into the tables here.

Data sources and coverage

The official data gives starting pay, the pay scale and fixed allowances for civil defence officers. It does not cover private-sector pay for the job.

SourceWhat it givesStrength
SPA service schemes KP9Starting basic pay by qualificationStrong: official and current
Budget 2026, SSPA pay scaleMinimum, maximum and yearly increment for every gradeStrong: official and current
JPA SSPA circular, Lampiran EFixed allowances by grade and areaStrong: official
DOSM Salaries & Wages Survey 2024 and 2025Industry and national mediansWeak for one job title
  • A payslip shows basic plus allowances plus any shift, on-call or overtime pay, so it can be higher than the fixed figures here.

Is civil defence officer work affected by AI?

The International Labour Organization puts protective services workers not elsewhere classified in its “Not exposed” group for exposure to generative AI. Its scores cover the job worldwide, so they apply in Malaysia too.

Based on the International Labour Organization's 2025 index, which scores every core task of a job from 0 (AI cannot help) to 1 (AI could do nearly all of it).

Civil defence officer
Not exposedAI exposure
Not exposedVery high

AI can do very little of this job. Most tasks are hands-on or face to face.

  • Most exposed taskPatrolling an assigned area to enforce parking regulations
  • Least exposed taskPatrolling beaches and swimming pools
  • In numbersNone of its 5 main tasks is one AI could do a large part of.
Civil defence officerISCO 5419
Not exposedexposure to generative AI
  1. Not exposed
  2. Minimal
  3. Some
  4. Moderate
  5. High
  6. Very high

Scored as ILO group 5419 Protective services workers not elsewhere classified. Average task score 0.20, higher than 32% of the 427 jobs the ILO scored.

Seven factors
FactorCivil defence officer
1Exposure levelNot exposed
2Average task score0.20 higher than 32% of jobs
3Tasks AI could do much of0 of 5
4Hands-on or people tasks5 of 5
5How even the exposure isEven (0.05)
6Most exposed taskPatrolling an assigned area to enforce parking regulations 0.24
7Least exposed taskPatrolling beaches and swimming pools to prevent accidents… 0.10
Most and least exposed tasks
Civil defence officer
Most exposed tasks
  • 0.24Patrolling an assigned area to enforce parking regulations
  • 0.21Responding to citizen complaints concerning stray domestic animals, livestock…
Least exposed tasks
  • 0.10Patrolling beaches and swimming pools to prevent accidents and to rescue…
  • 0.21Monitoring traffic flow to locate safe gaps through which pedestrians can…

What each factor means · How this job compares with the other salary guides

Source: ILO Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (Gmyrek et al., 2025), CC BY 4.0. Malaysian jobs are matched to ILO groups by their ISCO-08 code; MASCO follows ISCO-08 at four digits. The ILO scores international job groups, not Malaysian titles. How we read the AI scores.
What it means
  • Exposure measures how much of the work AI could do or speed up. It does not measure job cuts.

What the pay figures include

Every figure is monthly basic pay or fixed allowances, before deductions.

MeasureIncludesExcludes
Basic salaryGaji pokok on the SSPA scaleAllowances, shift, on-call and overtime pay, special payments
Fixed allowancesITP, BISH, ITKA or ITK, and BIPK as advertised for the postShift, on-call and overtime pay
DOSM salaryMonthly salaries and wages of paid employeesSelf-employed and unpaid family workers

Questions

What is the civil defence officer salary in Malaysia?

A new government civil defence officer starts on RM2,250 basic a month (KP9, bachelor's degree). With fixed allowances in Kuala Lumpur the total is RM3,150 a month, in 2026.

What is the civil defence officer salary per year in Malaysia?

RM3,150 a month is RM37,800 a year in fixed pay, before any shift, on-call or overtime pay and before the special payments the government announces each year.

How does a government civil defence officer's pay grow with years in service?

On the yearly increment alone, basic pay at grade 9 rises RM225 a year: from RM2,250 to about RM3,375 after 5 years and RM4,500 after 10, before any promotion. Foundific calculation from the Budget 2026 scale.

What is the highest civil defence officer salary in government?

Grade 9 runs from RM2,250 to RM11,110 in basic pay. Promotion can lead to grade 14, with a maximum basic of RM15,360 a month (Budget 2026).

How much does a civil defence officer earn in a private company?

The data used here does not cover civil defence officer pay outside government.

Where do these figures come from?

Starting pay is from the SPA service scheme pages, the pay scale from the Budget 2026 establishment list, and allowances from the JPA SSPA circular. Private-sector context is from DOSM and Industrial Court awards.

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Sources

SPA service schemes, Ministry of Finance Budget 2026, JPA SSPA circular, DOSM
  1. Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Awam, Syarat Permohonan: Pegawai Pertahanan Awam Gred Kp9.
  2. Ministry of Finance, Budget 2026 establishment list, Lampiran A. SSPA minimum-maximum salaries, page A-1.
  3. JPA, Pekeliling Perkhidmatan Bil. 1/2024 (SSPA), Lampiran E: ITP, ITKA and BISH by grade and area.
  4. DOSM, Salaries & Wages Survey Report 2025 and the 2024 report.